The Messenger of Death

Elena quickly went to stand beside her grandfather. In front of them was a huge glass, where they could oversee what was happening in the other room, safely.

"Start the process!" 

"Yes sir," Professor Gorr ordered and his employees quickly responded.

['The Professor seems to have gotten shorter over the years.'] Alex noticed.

['Yeah, he looks like a midget now, hahaha!!'] Al laughed at his comment.

Elena held the recording crystal in her hands and made sure that it was recording the process of what was about to happen in the other room.

"Shellie, it's about to begin. To be honest, I'm kind of excited, can't wait to see the results of our hard work." Elena spoke and a tinge of excitement could be heard in her tone.

Elena started to explain some of the processes that they had to go through before they were able to arrive at the point that they were now.

"I thought you stopped doing this pointless thing years ago?" Professor Gorr interrupted Elena.

"I did, but I have to record this. Shellie would have loved to see this too. At a point in her life, it was also a dream of hers." Elena replied.

"If it was a dream of hers she wouldn't have left. With her brother's help, we would have accomplished this years ago."

['Huh? This again? The last time Shellie said that the Professor was using her brother's brain for his own purpose and was killing him by doing so. Now the Professor is saying something similar to that. Apart from the Neurological disorder Charlie possess, what else is special about him?'] Al wondered.

It was hard to imagine someone with a disorder like that to be able to accomplish such feats.

"Charlie might have not made it to see this be a success if we had used his brain any longer," Elena argued gently. She was about to continue to explain the process when the Professor interrupted again.

"Elena, drop that device, anyone not present today doesn't have the right to see us accomplish this. No exceptions." The Professor mentioned.

Elena stared at her grandfather for a while before replying; "No."

"You continue to oppose me, grandchild-"

-Crank!!

The loud sound of machines moving overshadowed the Professor's voice. He kept quiet and looked at Elena before mouthing the words; "We'll talk about this later," knowing fully well that she could read his lips. The professor chose to let this go in the meantime.

['Grandpa is not having it.'] Al commented, seeming to enjoy the little drama that he was witnessing.

"It's about to begin Shellie, this would be the first and hopefully successful attempt to combine and integrate alchemy and runes into one," Elena stated.

['What the fuck!?'] Alex and Al exclaimed at the same time. They understood the magnitude of what Elena said.

['That's not possible right?'] Alex whispered.

['It shouldn't be.'] Al answered.

"This is mind bugling," Lex stated.

During the time they spent getting stronger in the library with Nana, Alex and his alternate personalities began recalling several pieces of memories that the Dragnel brothers gave to them. It always happens when they understand a concept of their powers or a fundamental, or when they come across something that the Dragnels have attempted before. The memory appears most of the time as a feeling of déjà vu.

['It shouldn't be possible. Alchemy deals with already prepared ingredients that contain a certain Dao, symmetric to the biological genes of the ingredients. When making something in alchemy, we look at the gauge, reason, and so on just to make sure that it is successful. It all within the laws of the universe.'] Al started.

['And runes or runic alphabets is a language that the laws resonate with. Basically, every alchemy pill is already a product that is within the configuration of the universal laws or so to speak, it's just a fusion of different ingredients… like cooking. Infusing runes into alchemy is like trying to give a law to what you are making, trying to make pepper itself, salty, something of that sort. It shouldn't be possible.'] Alex continued.

"Or more like trying to make a new law for the produce," Lex added.

['Let's see what they are up to.'] Xander added.

Looking through the glass in the projection, Lex saw some scientist enter with a huge cauldron and different alchemy ingredients. They set the cauldron down and proceeded to start to concoct. When they were in the process of concocting, they paused at a certain point when they had turned the whole ingredients to fine liquid, and then 3 Etruscan runemasters appeared in the room.

The alchemist kept the liquid afloat while the runemasters started to inscribe on the air.

The runic alphabets that were drawing were unfamiliar to Alex and the rest.

['Are those runic alphabets?'] Al wondered.

['They look like they are but, no, I know all the major alphabets and the minor ones are derived from the major ones. But these alphabets, they are… No.'] Alex paused.

['Those are runic alphabets, they all are but, but several alphabets that have been put together and made into another alphabet.'] Alex revealed, stunned at what he deduced.

['They created their own alphabets? Doesn't that mean that they made their own universal laws? Should that be allowed?'] Al asked.

['It shouldn't be. From the memory I can recall, Daemon attempted fusing runic alphabets into one and he almost summoned a deadly tribulation upon himself. The universe did not approve of it.'] Alex said.

['This is insane!!'] He exclaimed.

['Could this be the reverse-engineered runes?'] Xander mentioned.

"It could be – no it should be," Lex uttered.

['How did they accomplish such? Just how?'] Alex wondered, he was interested in this research, to the extent that he had forgotten why and what they were there for. ['Did they invite a tribulation upon themselves?']

['They are fusing into one.'] Xander said.

The runemasters moved their inscriptions to the fine liquid that the alchemists had prepared. As soon as the runes touched the liquid the whole lab began trembling.

An unsettling aura enveloped everyone, including Lex. Even if it was just a projection of what has already happened, the aura was still able to be felt.

"This recording crystal is scarier than what we gave it credit for, it even recorded the aura when it happened," Lex stated.

The trembling got worse as time went by and the aura got a lot more menacing. The glass that was in front of Elena shook and began cracking.

['It looks like a tribulation is upon them, but in Daemon's memory, it looked more devastating than this. Why is theirs like this?'] Alex wondered.

Suddenly, the commotion started to calm down. The lab stopped trembling and the aura was being suppressed.

"Complete it now!!" Professor Gorr ordered and the alchemist proceeded to finish what they had started.

In minutes, they solidified the fine liquid and turned it into a single transparent pill. This pill had red lines on it.

As it floated in the air, the red lines on its body shone to the point that it looked deadly. Then the alchemist brought a container and placed the pill in it. They then left the showroom with excited smiles on their faces and brought the pill to the professor.

"Hahaha!!! Yes!!! They say hard work pays!! We have done it, we have finally done it!!" a single tear rolled down the professor's eyes.

"Congratulation grandpa." Elena smiled as she saw her grandfather's expression. "We just have to figure out its effects. Who or how are we going to test the pill?" Elena questioned.

"Do not worry about that now! We will think about it after we have celebrated our accomplishments. Everyone can take a break for the next 2 days, Hahaha!" Professor Gorr announced.

"Do you see this Shellie, now we just have to figure out if the effects of the pill are positive. I will be stopping the recording here, but I will be back when we are about to test the effect of the pill. Bye… and I miss you."

The whole went dark as the recording ended.

['Goddamn! These guys, who exactly are they? At first, I was only interested in the projections because I heard Shellie's name being mentioned. But now, I just realized that these guys are more interesting than Shellie.']

['Everything is possible if you can pay the price, but not everything is permissible. Shellie said that, but they have done the impossible without paying the price, what is the price that they had pay for the universe to free them from tribulations?'] Al wondered.

"Did they pay a price or did they bypass the tribulation with the help of something else?" Lex interjected.

The whole situation got them thinking. The main point was that, if the pill that they made was actually successful, then it will be the birth of new powers… to be specific, people that consume such pills will not be much different from abominations.

['Why is it that the Dragnels knew nothing of this accomplishment? If it is the time of Shellie, and should they still be alive, they should have made it to the Celestial plain realm too, right?'] Alex said.

"Probably," Lex answered.

['More pressing issues, how is it that the academy knows nothing of this underground bunker? Or is it that they do but do not care about its existence? Is the principal someone from this lab or not?'] Xander thought…